Anti-Japanese War, weapons designer at Fengtian Arsenal

On the second day after the outbreak of the January 29 Incident, that is, on the 1th, China and Japan entered into the first ceasefire under the mediation of many foreign powers.

The reason why the Japanese army agreed to this ceasefire was to give face to the great powers and to increase troops on a large scale!

This battle was more difficult than they had imagined. The soldiers of the 19th Route Army showed a determination to fight to the death, which frightened them.

At the same time, the large number of casualties caused by the battle made the Japanese high-ranking officials dissatisfied. After just one day and one night of fighting, the number of casualties exceeded 800, and 6 tanks and 8 armored vehicles were destroyed. With such a huge loss, the front line did not advance any further. This directly led to the Japanese cabinet removing Commander Yukiichi Shiozawa and replacing him with Yoshisaburo Nomura.

After Nomura Yoshisaburo took over the command, he continued to throw smoke bombs at the Nationalist government, hoping for a peaceful solution, while at the same time asking for help from the army to increase land combat forces.

Yoshisaburo Nomura was the commander of the Third Fleet. The contradictions between the Japanese navy and the army were well known. As a naval officer, it was impossible for him to ask the army for help. He could not defeat the enemy with the Marine Corps alone. He could only rely on the more professional army horses for land combat. This also laid the groundwork for the army officers to take over command later.

Yoshisaburo Nomura obviously did not want the credit to be taken away by the army, so he immediately began to make arrangements and planned to launch a surprise attack before the armistice period expired.

But at this critical moment, one thing gave Nomura Yoshisaburo a headache. He had to spend his precious time dealing with the protests of the French consul.

"Assholes, if Japan doesn't give a reasonable explanation, France will declare war on you!"

French Consul Senior was shouting loudly in the reception room of the Japanese headquarters, and Nomura Kichisaburo, who was sitting opposite him, could only explain carefully.

What happened in the early morning was too terrible. A group of Japanese soldiers rushed into a watch shop under the pretext of looking for attackers, robbed it and killed the owner of the shop. Afterwards, they clashed with the French company that came to stop them and wiped out one of the French companies. My goodness, this was no less than declaring war on a sovereign country!

Afterwards, under the watchful eyes of patrols from various countries, a gun battle broke out between the special forces led by Kawashima Yoshiko and the newly arrived French company. Nearly a hundred people were killed or wounded on both sides. A French company commander was shot dead on the spot, and Kawashima Yoshiko was shot seven times and fell into a coma. It was unknown whether she could be saved.

Seeing such a mess, Yoshisaburo Nomura felt like crying.

"Cough cough!"

Nomura Kichisaburo calmed down and said, "Mr. Consul, there must be a misunderstanding. Japan and France have always had a friendly relationship, and Japanese soldiers are also famous for their discipline. Our soldiers could not have robbed your watch shop, nor could they have attacked your soldiers. The attacker must have disguised himself as our soldier to deliberately provoke the relationship between us."

Consul Senior scoffed at Nomura Yoshisaburo's statements. He took out a pile of documents and photos from his bag and slapped them on Nomura Yoshisaburo's desk.

"Oh, really? Then how does the Commander explain these things?"

Yoshisaburo Nomura picked up the document on the table and took a look at it, then his face turned extremely ugly.

The document mainly contains testimonies from French residents living near the watch shop, who witnessed with their own eyes the entire process of a team of Japanese marines in blue uniforms rushing into the watch shop to rob it and shooting the owner.

Most importantly, when the company led by the colonel came to surround the group of robbers, the Japanese soldiers launched a shameless head-on attack, killed all the French soldiers, and then quickly slipped away.

This incident was filmed by a Frenchman with a small camera. The officer who was shot also survived and became living evidence. It can be said that the shit pot is firmly locked and cannot be taken off!

As he looked at the documents, Nomura Kichisaburo's face turned paler and paler.

The last page of the material also mentions things about Southeast Asia, saying that Japanese forces were suspected to have appeared in the colonies and they were selling Japanese weapons to local resistance forces.

The material said that the French army organized a large-scale operation to suppress the resistance forces, but the operation failed because the resistance forces were equipped with a large number of Japanese rifles.

The governor in charge of the expedition later investigated the battlefield and believed that the only one who could provide such a large-scale supply of Japanese equipment was the Japanese Empire, which had its own production lines for these weapons.

It is no secret that Japan covets Southeast Asia. Their strategic department has long simulated the scenario of Japan's sneak attack on Southeast Asia. They even speculated that the Japanese Empire would support local resistance forces. They just didn't expect them to act so quickly.

When Yoshisaburo Nomura saw this, he was completely stunned. Although they really had a plan to attack Southeast Asia, it was just a plan. It did not mean that they had to implement it. Then they also had a plan to attack Pearl Harbor, but it had not been implemented yet.

So the question is, who is providing the resistance with Japanese rifles?

This guy naturally didn't know that Li Qinwu had set up a rubber factory in Southeast Asia. Ever since the supervisor asked his companions to threaten Khun Sa, Khun Sa thought about it again and decided to cooperate with this group of mysterious people.

Although the mysterious man's purpose was also to get dirty blood, which made him very disgusted and defined him as an enemy, the French expeditionary force was the real crisis of destruction at the moment.

Kunsha mobilized all his men to steal rubber, and then transported it over mountains and rivers to the rubber factory deep in the mountains.

The guards sold the rifles captured from the Japanese to them at extremely harsh prices after grinding off the gun numbers. In addition, they were too slow in collecting rubber, so the guards opened up a variety of exchange businesses, such as collecting sugar cane, coffee, tea, various tropical fruits, fragrant rice, etc.

Because Li Qinwu wanted to expand the food business of Longlong Convenience Store, he thought of Southeast Asia, which is rich in various fruits.

The current focus of management is to set up a canning factory 20km upstream of the rubber factory. The plan is to collect fresh fruits, seal them in boxes made of No. 2 ceramic steel, and then transport them to the Longlong Store for sale.

Neither Nomura Yoshisaburo nor the French knew about these things, so the misunderstanding between the two sides was quite deep.

Nomura Kichisaburo tried his best to explain and appease him, and his tone was even a little flattering, but Consul Senior did not appreciate it at all and looked aggressive.

Consul Senior had just taken office and was very busy with military affairs. He had to use his precious time to make front-line arrangements, and had no time to deal with international disputes.

Moreover, he finally understood that Consul Senior was shouting loudly, but he was actually very quiet. What was the point of starting a war? How many armies did France have in Asia? How dare they start a war with the Empire of Japan? Wasn't it just to get more benefits in the subsequent negotiations?

After Consul Senior threatened war for the 15th time, Nomura Kichisaburo's patience ran out.

He dropped his flattering attitude and his expression turned gloomy.

"Okay, let's start the war."

Consul Senior was stunned, thinking there was something wrong with his ears.

"what did you just say?"

Kichisaburo Nomura stood on the table with his hands crossed.

"Consul Senior, didn't you say that France wants to go to war with the Empire of Japan? If so, then let's go to war as you wish.

Consul Senior, please go back. We will immediately withdraw our diplomatic personnel from your country. Once we capture Shanghai, our warships will head south to attack Southeast Asia. Rubber in Southeast Asia is a strategic resource that the Imperial Navy urgently needs!"

"you you you……"

Consul Senior stuttered. He didn't understand why the guy who was so timid just now suddenly became so tough. He couldn't adapt to it.

Nomura Yoshisaburo snorted coldly, straightened out the documents that the other party had just thrown on the table, and then threw them in the other party's face. With a bang, the documents scattered and flew all over the office. Consul Senior screamed and fell to the ground.

"You bastard!"

Consul Senior felt insulted. How dare this damn Japanese man be so unreasonable!

Nomura Kichisaburo replied indifferently: "Consul Senior, go back and tell your superiors to prepare the army and warships. We will immediately start a war that will determine the fate of our country!

The Great Japanese Empire can mobilize one million troops and hundreds of warships of various types to Southeast Asia within one year, but I wonder how many troops France, far away in Europe, can send to Asia?"